Where Credit Is Due

In east Africa, which has the highest urbanization rate in the world, urban women are caught between their traditional role in village society and the need to make an income. Women who leave the support of rural villages to find a better life in the city discover that entrepreneurship far outweighs wage labor in availability and income, but most do not have the capital to start a small business. The banking system, which is based on the colonial system of collateral, generally refuses loans to women who, through tribal law, have customarily been prohibited from land inheritance. The Kenya Women's Finance Trust is profiled as an example of a credit cooperative for women modeled after rural traditions in which groups of women agree to support members in instances of sickness, childbirth, or other needs.

More in African Market Women Series

  1. Fair Trade 1990
  2. From the Shore 1990
  3. Where Credit Is Due 1991

Related films

Sources

  1. 16mm Filmography (legacy record) — title, year, creator, length, format, color, description, catalog record